What can you do to maximize your chances that you'll succeed at your goal?

Let's take the example of dieting. In my last post, several readers and I shared some principles that help us eat (and live) more healthfully. One reader, Terry, correctly drew attention to the association between weight and amount of TV watching, while I myself concentrated on eating more green vegetables. Now, from these general strategies, we might set the following goals for ourselves:

1) Watch less TV.2) Eat your veggies.

How many of us have New Year's resolutions posted on the mirror or the fridge that look like that? They seem like perfectly reasonable to-do lists, and at least they help us keep the goal in mind.

But there is a problem. You see, beyond telling us what the desired end is, they don't tell us much about the how. And there is a relatively straightforward, research-proven way to frame the goal to improve your chances of actually doing what you set out to do.

Psychologist Peter Gollwitzer and his colleagues have found that beyond setting goals, setting what he calls implementation intentions maximizes the likelihood of engaging in goal-directed behavior. The principle behind implementation intentions is straightforward. As therapists have long known, our behaviors often become strongly associated with the contexts in which the behavior is performed-- this is why, for example, sleepingtherapy will often stress that the only thing people do in their beds is sleep. This is so that the context (the bedroom, the bed) will itself cue the behavior (sleeping). In my own case, a long standing problem has been my tendency to eat cereal at night, after the kids go to bed. As I tiptoe down the stairs at night, I'll often find myself anticipating (yumming, I call it) that bowl of cereal. It is a classic example of the conextual cue eliciting the thought of food.

An implementation intention I might set for myself here is:

IF you are tiptoeing down the stairs after putting the kids to bed, THEN grab a piece of fruit.

Implementation intentions take the form of IF...THEN...statements: IF you are in X situation, THEN engage in Y behavior. This way of framing the goal takes advantage of the contextual cue to remind you of your goal. This, in effect, puts our tendency of contextual cueing to work in your favor. In one study (Gollwitzer and Brandstatter, 1997), students were asked what goals they had set for themselves over the holidays, such as completing a given assignment or finishing a book. Among students who had framed their goals in terms of implementation intentions, about 66 percent ended up successfully completing them, whereas only 25 percent of those who had set goals without the implementation intentions did so. Clearly implementation intentions helped! This was particularly true for difficult projects (for easily achievable goals, there was no improvement as a function of implementation intentions).

Again, in my own case, I'll say things to myself like

IF the kids are having dessert, THEN make yourself a cup of coffee.

Rather than saying a global, "don't yield to temptation," I tie my behavioral strategy to the situation, and make it more likely that I'll stay on course when I'm most tempted (i.e., when my kids are savoring their snacks)

Now, going back to the earlier examples, then, instead of just instructing yourself to watch less TV, try this: isolate the particular situations or cues in which you have the tendency to be a couch potato, and then give yourself a specific behavior to do. Let's say, for example, that you tend to gravitate to the TV after dinner. You might say:

IF you are looking for something to do after dinner, THEN go for a brisk walk (for example).

The nice thing about implementation intentions is that they are flexible, and you can tailor them to your particular goal as well as context. Framing your goals in IF...THEN...terms helps you be more attentive to the contextual cues that are likely to cue unwanted behavior, and can serve as reminders of the behavior you do want to engage in.

my goal is to appear on National Television to speak about the 1` in 3 women on the planet living behind closed doors because of verbal and physical abuse...in silence,. fear and shame.

The statistics are over 52 million in the U.S. alone.

I have been working like a "Trojan" toward that end for close to 15 years; my research fills a 4-drawer filing cabinet and I am a moderator of an abused survivors; group.

I am an undergraduate Freshman in social work/counseling, because I wrote about my life of persevering and won a scholarship. I am 65 and still feel 18...I have as much passion and energy as any 18 year old (good genes!)

My goal was to eat more fresh fruit. What worked for me was when packing my lunch I add a lot of fruit, then when eating lunch I fill up on fruit first before eating anything else.

Back when my goal was to cut back on TV, if I felt the urge for background noise I turned on Rhapsody (online radio), or if I felt the urge to vegetate, I would read a trashy novel. My husband helped my by using a headphone to watch TV so that I would be less tempted.

If... then doesn't work for food addiction. Food cravings, binging not yumming, the thoughts about food, the agitation. Your physiology needs the change. You can enforce willpower, that's a big part of it. But it's not the only thing. It's another top down approach.

However, since a lot of bloggers didn't think dieters are addicted, if...then is a good way to practice good yumming habits.

There is a lot of stuff out there about how to accomplish goals and how to avoid procrastination.

One of the approaches often cited is to focus on one or just a few things (tasks) at a time.

Losing weight, for example, may involve changing a number of habits, so it may be necessary to focus on one or two at a time.

One tool people often use is a checklist, or a to-do list, and a schedule. So if we resolve to sleep eight hours, we schedule a bedtime and a wake-up time. There is a saying, "If it's important enough to do, then it's important enough to schedule." Many people will find scheduling abhorrent, but scheduling will improve the likelihood of success. That's why companies use this tool.

Your if..then programming statement seems like a useful tool, but I would just call it a cue. I think it's the same idea, but different terminology. If I start yawning, that's my cue to check my watch, and if it's bedtime... then I go to bed. I use the yawning as a cue for going to bed.

I am confused by the terminology "implementation intention". It sound like complicated terminology for a "plan". But for sure, plans improve the likelihood of successfully reaching a goal.

Goals are vague and grandiose statements about something we hope or wish will come true. And whether or not it comes to fruition is usually projected on to some external influence.

I teach the concept of the well formed outcome from Academic Life Coaching.

1. Must be stated in the positive (no 'I wants" or "I wish". It helps to word it as if it already happened and tie a vision to it.)
2. Getting started and the success or failure of the outcome must depend entirely upon your ability to control it. (there is so much in life you cannot control)
3. Must have a reasonable size to time ratio
4. It is specific and measurable

This puts the entire outcome within the control of the person setting it.

The result being either success or failure of the desired outcome, there can be a measure of success just in following your process. Every uptick in confidence and resilience counts. And each requirement gives you something specific to tweak for the next attempt.

Goals are vague and grandiose statements about something we hope or wish will come true. And whether or not it comes to fruition is usually projected on to some external influence.

I teach the concept of the well formed outcome from Academic Life Coaching.

1. Must be stated in the positive (no 'I wants" or "I wish". It helps to word it as if it already happened and tie a vision to it.)
2. Getting started and the success or failure of the outcome must depend entirely upon your ability to control it. (there is so much in life you cannot control)
3. Must have a reasonable size to time ratio
4. It is specific and measurable

This puts the entire outcome within the control of the person setting it.

The result being either success or failure of the desired outcome, there can be a measure of success just in following your process. Every uptick in confidence and resilience counts. And each requirement gives you something specific to tweak for the next attempt.